Why is networking so important in the wedding industry?
Have you ever wondered how other wedding industry professionals in Austin, Houston, or DFW are booking getting all their leads? While there are many options for advertising your brand such as The Knot, Wedding Wire, or running ads via Google, Facebook, and Instagram we have found that one of the absolute best ways to drive the most reliable leads for the types of clients you will want to work with is through Networking with other industry professionals! We have personally experienced the power of networking with local and destination wedding professionals and find immense value in cultivating personal relationships with wedding professionals across the broad spectrum of this industry. This method can help professionals build a strong brand, find clients, and stay current on industry trends. We have taken a moment to expound on each of the primary benefits of expanding your network!
Increased visibility: Networking events and participation can help businesses stand out within the industry.
Client acquisition: Networking can lead to more client inquiries, referrals, and collaboration opportunities.
With this being one of the most obvious benefits of course it’s listed as number one! The amount of leads that can come from someone you have worked with or networked with in the past is honestly astounding. You never know which wedding professional will recommend your brand. We often partner with a variety of talented and dedicated professionals for creative styled shoots as well as just grabbing a bite to eat to just connect on a more personal level. We even have other photographers recommend us often to their clients when they are already booked on that particular date. We are of the mindset that we are not each other competition but the reality is that this industry thrives as a whole when we all function well together!
2. Brand building: Establishing a positive reputation within the network can help attract potential clients.
Networking is a great way to express what value you or your brand have to bring to the table. Brand awareness is everything in this indusrty. How quickly do people recognize your brand when you introduce yourself? Have they heard of you? Have they been wanting to work with you for a while? Are they excited to meet you in person after hearing much about your brand prior to you meeting? Believe it or not, these things are attainable for a new business. Building those connections and finding ways to add value to your relationships is a great way to springboard your brand to the front and center.
With us being wedding photographers based in Texas it makes sense that we would add value to our relationships by offering branding or headshots to partners like wedding planners or venue detail shots for new wedding venues that really need the content. We often collaborate with others in the industry and find ways that we can bring value to our relationship! We love to intentionally reach out to all of the participating wedding professionals after a wedding and share the sneak peek and full wedding galleries for others to share. This is a simple part of the process for us but we see it as absolutely crucial since most of these wedding pro’s need photos to show their work!
3. Staying informed: Networking events can provide insight into the latest wedding industry developments.
Believe it or not, understanding the latest trends within the wedding industry for your local market is important to learning and growing as a brand and business. Being able to incorporate new trends into your workflow or make recommendations of other wedding professionals according to upcoming trends is important for any growing and evolving brand.
4. Knowledge sharing: Networking allows professionals to share knowledge and best practices with peers.
This point is similar to the last in that networking helps the industry stay on top of the trends but also establishing what is acceptable and best practice of doing business. This is where other pro’s learn about your values as a brand and how you work with clients as well as other vendors within the wedding industry. Pay close attention to the do’s and don’ts within the wedding community.
5. Trust building: Networking with other wedding professionals can help build trust and credibility.
This has been one of the most valuable trends for our wedding photography and videography brand! We are huge on personal relationships with both clients as well as other wedding pro’s because we need to know that anyone we recommend is trustworthy and vice versa. Any wedding vendor we work with needs to know that they can trust us with their most valuable asset, their clients! If we can’t have trust in a relationship it likely isn’t one that will work out long term. Being trustworthy is critical for your brand credibility and a lot of what you do in this industry determines who you work with in the future.
6. Vendor list creation: Networking can help wedding planners build a list of vendors to refer to clients.
This preferred vendor list is what many clients will refer to when they are looking to book a particular service within the wedding industry. The wedding professionals who have built up a rapport with one another and have a trust based foundation for their relationship will gladly connect their clients with those trustworthy industry partners. There is immense value in this list because most couple have never planned a wedding before so they have no idea where to start! This list is curated over time as relationships are strengthened and reliability is established. If their list is published online with a direct link to your website this is an added bonus since the backlinking is great for SEO (we will unpack this down in a future blog ) which drives the organic traffic to your website through Google search engines.
This blog wouldn’t be complete if we didn’t offer some local options for wedding professionals to begin building valuable connections. If you haven’t yet, check out WIPA (Wedding Industry Professionals Association), ILEA (International Live Events Association), and AWPA (Associated Wedding Planners of Austin). Other options would be attending or participating in venue open houses, or wedding Expos! These are all great ways to get connected and make friends in the industry!
We hope this blog has give you a bit of perspective as to why networking is so important for any professional in the wedding industry as well as offered you a few great places to start making those connections!
Misty + Jay
